Nondetonating engine



June 14, 1938. v. F. ZAHODIAKIN NONDETONATING ENGINE Filed June 5, 1937 IN VENTOR Bwflafl yM h/M A TTORNE V5 Patented June 14, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NONDETONATING ENGINE Victor F. Zahodlflklll, New York, N. Y.

Application June 3, 1937, Serial No. 146,26'l

6 Claims.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and is particularly directed to improvements in the construction of the cylinder head for the purpose of eliminating detonation. The invention is of primary value in connection with the L-head type of internal combustion engine. In the L-head design, detonation occurs to a much greater extent and therefore presents a much greater problem than in that type of engine having overhead valves, known as the valve in head type. This is true for the reason that the flame in the L-head type travels a greater distance, the spark plug or point of ignition being located'at a point offset from the cylinder.

In the L-head type of engine, combustion starts at the spark plug and moves across the combustion chamber until all of the mixture is burned. As the flame front moves across the combustion chamber, the pressure of the unburned portion of the mixture increases which, of course, raises the temperature. from the burning mixture heats up the unburned portion. Obviously, if the temperature of the unburned portion of the mixture rises high enough, an explosion occurs, that is, the unburned mixture will explode instead of burnin in an orderly fashion. This self-ignition creates a knock or results in the defect of detonation with which this invention is concerned.

Considerable experimentation and work have been done in attempts to eliminate detonation by varying the design and shape of the combustion chamber. However, it has been found in all cases that, regardless of the shape of the combustion chamber, when the ratio of compression reached a certain degree detonation occurred.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved cylinder head which includes structure eliminating detonation, and therefore all of its attendant disadvantages such as excess vibration, rapid destruction of the engine, and power losses.

The present concept resides in the determination that heat dissipation must take place with increasing rapidity the further the flame proceeds from the point of ignition. That is to .say, as the pressure of the unburned mixture tends to increase, and therefore, its tendency to 0 explode or preignite increases, there should be facilities for dissipating the heat to keep the temperature of the burning mixture uniform. The present invention provides a structural arrangement in the cylinder head whereby the heat dissipating properties of the combustion cham- At the same time radiation ber increase evenly as the flame wall travels. Even burning of the fuel is of vital importance in the elimination of detonation. Higher compression ratios arethen possible with the results of greater power output and noticeable economy for the given displacement.

Other objects and certain advantages will be more fully apparent from a description of the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view taken through an internal combustion engine of the L-head type incorporating the present invention, the section being taken through a cylinder thereof.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 s Figure 1, detailing the arrangement of the spurs or pegs within the water jacket.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of a cylinder head illustrating a modified form of the invention.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken similar to Figure 3 and illustrating 'a further modification.

Referring to the drawing, the engine block is indicated at 5 and the cylinder head at 6. A cylinder of the cylinder block is indicated at I, and includes the usual piston 8. Inasmuch as the present invention is entirely concerned with the problems arising from inefllcient combustion or improper burning of the fuel mixture, introduced to the cylinder, only the intake passageway and the combustion chamber are shown in detail. The intake passageway 9 enters the side of the cylinder block and turns upwardly for entrance into the combustion chamber ill formed as a recess in the bottom of the cylinder head. The cylinder head and cylinder block include the usual water jackets.

A valve Ii controls the admission of the fuel mixture to the cylinder. This valve is reciprocably mounted in the cylinder block and has its head, engaging a seat I! formed in the block by countersinking the upper end of the intake passageway. Substantially above the valve II will be found a spark plug i3 disposed in the head 6 in the usual manner with its points located in the combustion chamber ill of the cylinder head. A substantial chamber is provided in the cylinder head at that portion between the spark plug and the valve. From this point towards the cylinder, the wall l5 of the cylinder head, i. e. top of combustion chamber, slopes downwardly toward the top of the cylinder and then continues straight across to form a slight recess of the form and outline of the curvature of the cylinder as at I8.

This shallow or relatively flat recess indicated at I6 may be referred to as a zone in which detonation most readily occurs.

to as a top wall of the combustion chamber ins cludes an arrangement of heat dissipating spurs,

or pegs l1, extending or projecting into the water chamber thereof.

The upper wall I! of the cylinder head has one or more large circular clean-out openings ll 10 therein. These openings are provided for the purpose of permitting access to the interior of the water chamber and the dissipating spurs or studs for removal of the cores used in the casting process. Inasmuch as these spurs are formed by casting, it may be necessary to clean up any unnecessary projections by sand blasting. This is accomplished through the openings and thereafter through the access provided by said openings, it is possible to remove the sand and ground oil particles. These openings are closed by means of disks 20 seated in the countersunk portions 2|. Initially, as shown, the disks are concave, fitting snugly in the countersunk portions 2|. 'After the core removing and casting cleaning operations, these disks are placed in position and secured permanently by applying pressure to their centers, pressing the central portions thereof into the planes of the outer edges. This operation swages the disks in position. so Again referring to the heat dissipating spurs or pegs, it will be noted that these spurs increase in height uniformly. Their respective heights increase as the distance from the point of ignition increases. As will be apparent in Figure 2, the spurs are arranged so as to increase and arrange the heat dissipating areas proportionate to the tendency towards temperature rise. The spurs are disposed substantially within the outline of the cylinder and the aggregate areas 4 of the spurs provide increased heat dissipating areas toward the point A which is that portion of the combustion chamber in which the fuel mixture is last to burn.

Referring to Figure 1, a series of lines emanating from the point of ignition are indicated at '22. These are indicated to mark the progress of the flame wall. As stated, the letter A indicates that portion of the combustion chamber in which the fuel mixture is last to burn. Now, as the flame wall progresses across from the point of ignition and over the piston, the temperature of the unburned portion as contained at A increases with the resulting tendency to preignite or explode. However, this tendency to cause temperature rise is evenly counteracted by the ability of the top wall of the combustion chamber to dissipate the generated heat. It is emphasized that there is perfect proportion between the two forces at all times, that is the tendency towards temoo perature rise and heat dissipation. The ability of the cylinder head to dissipate the heat generated in the combustion chamberis directly proportionate to the tendency towards temperature rise, that is to say, an absolute balance is brought about whereby the temperature of burning at point A is exactly the same as that at the point of ignition.

The spurs or pegs are cast integrally with the cylnder head and are tapered to the extent that 70 the operation of casting is greatly facilitated. The spurs are tapered to the degree necessitated by the coring operation.

In the modification of Figure 3,- it will be noted that the studs are of uniform height and provide 7 uniform heat dissipating areas. A sufficient num- The wall I! referred" her is provided to provide proper cooling of the zone of detonation while at the same time maintaining the normal temperature of the internal combustion engine where detonation does not usually occur. The spurs are located directly above the zone where detonation usually occurs and are disposed in parallelism with the axis of the cylinder or in other words, at 90 to the horizontal walls of the cylinder head disregarding the sloping Portion.

In the design shown in Figure 4,the cylinder head walls are arranged as in the preceding forms with the exception that the lower wall 23, or top wall of the combustion chamber decreases in thickness from the point of ignition to the point A; that is to say the greater distance the wall is from the point of ignition the less mass it has. In order to properly support this wall of decreased thickness or cross section a series of struts 24 is provided disposed parallel to the axis of the cylinder and between the top and bottom walls of the head and within the water jacket. The spaces between these struts decrease as the distance the struts are from the ignition point decreases.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said head being of hollow form to provide a water recess in its underside providing a combustion chamber when disposed on said block, and including means for mounting the ignition device toward one side thereof, the inner surface of the wall of said recess being smooth and uninterrupted, said wall having a series of spurs projecting from the surface thereof within the water jacket, said spurs being of progressively increased area as they are more distant from the means for mounting the ignition device.

2. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said cylinder block including gas inlet and outlet passageways and cylinders opening to the top of the block, said head being of hollowform to provide a water jacket and including recesses in its underside .providing combustion chambers when disposed on said block over said passageways and cylinders, and series of projections formed on the surfaces of the walls of the combustion chambers within the water jacket, said projections providing increased heat dissipating area as they are more distant from the gas inlet side of the particular combustion chamber.

3. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said head being of hollow form to provide a water jacket and including a recess in its underside providing a combustion chamber when disposed on said block, said wall having a series of projections projecting from the surface thereof within the water jacket immediately above the zone in which detonation usually occurs, the remainder of the wall being devoid of projections at any point.

4. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said head being of hollow form to provide a water jacket and including a recess in its underside providing a combustion chamber over the cylinder of the block when disposed on said block, said head including means for mounting an ignition device at one side thereof, the inner surface of the wall of said recess being smooth and uninterrupted, said wall having a series of plug-like projections and integral with the surface thereof within the water jacket and immediately above the cylinder,

jacket and including a projecting from said plug-like projections disposed in parallelism with the cylinder axis.

5. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said head being of hollow form to provide a water Jacket and including a recess in its underside providing a combustion chamber when disposed on said block, said head further including means for mounting the ignition device toward the side thereof, said wall having a series of tapered spurs projecting from the surface thereof within the water jacket, said spurs being of progressively increased area as they are more distant from the means for mounting the ignition device.

6. A head for the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, said cylinder block including a gas inlet and a gas outlet passageway and a cylinder opening to the top of the block, said head being of hollow form to provide a water jacket and including a recess in its underside providing a combustion chamber when disposed on said block over said passageways and cylinder, said combustion chamber having a smooth uninterrupted internal surface and a series of tapered studs formed on the surface of the combustion chamber within the water jacket, said studs increasing in height and diameter as they are more distant from the gas inlet passageway.

VICTOR F. Z AHODIAKIN. 

